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1. A Mentor’s Reflection on Challenges of Practice in a Scholarship Program for Lower-Income Computing Students

   Solis, T; Secules, S; Kumar, A; Georgiopoulos, M; Sullivan, J; Weiss, M (June 2024, Proceedings ASEE annual conference)

   This paper describes an NSF (National Science Foundation) S-STEM-funded scholarship program, representing a collaborative five-year grant project among three prominent universities in the Southeast region of the United States. Its primary objective is to support dedicated scholars in graduating and finding a professional pathway. Each institution recruited a cohort of 15-20 scholars annually for three years. The project offers scholarships and provides curricular and cocurricular support to academically talented but financially challenged students in the computing disciplines, including Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, and Information Technology majors, starting from their junior years. The program aims to impact 150 scholars, most of whom are underrepresented in computing. Scholars receive support throughout their graduation and beyond should they pursue graduate studies in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) discipline at any of the three participating institutions. Besides funds, the program provides an expansive career pathway opportunity to each of its students, accompanied by various supporting services, a dedicated advising team, experiential learning offices, career services offices, and graduate schools. Supporting services include internship fairs, panel discussions with alumni, resume workshops, graduate school application workshops, and career fairs. The project brings together the unique collaboration of three institutions for each of its supported activities to significantly enhance the support and opportunities offered to its scholars and to conduct meaningful research studies that include significant-sized intersectional populations. 

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2. STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems

   Tian, E.; Kishbaugh, T.; Showalter, D.; Barge, S. (July 2022, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Eastern Mennonite University received a 5-year S-STEM award for their STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems (SSELP) program. The goal of this place-based, interdisciplinary scholarship program is to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students who graduate in STEM fields and either pursue immediate employment in STEM careers or STEM-related service or continue their STEM education in graduate school. In 2018 and 2019, two cohorts of seven students were recruited to major in biology, chemistry, engineering, computer science, mathematics, or environmental science. A key part of recruitment involved on-campus interviews, during a February Scholarship Day, between STEM faculty and potential scholars. As the yield rate for the event is high (54-66%), the university has continued this practice, funding additional STEM scholarships. In order to retain and graduate the scholars in STEM fields, the SSELP faculty designed and carried out various projects and activities to support the students. The SSELP Scholars participated in a first-year STEM Career Practicum class, a one-credit course that connected students with regional STEM practitioners across a variety of fields. The scholars were supported by peer tutors embedded in STEM classes, and now many are tutors themselves. They participated in collaborative projects where the cohorts worked to identify and solve a problem or need in their community. The SSELP scholars were supported by both faculty and peer mentors. Each scholarship recipient was matched with a faculty mentor in addition to an academic advisor. A faculty mentor was in a related STEM field but typically not teaching the student. Each scholar was matched with a peer mentor (junior or senior) in their intended major of study. In addition, community building activities were implemented to provide a significant framework for interaction within the cohort. To evaluate the progress of the SSELP program, multiple surveys were conducted. HERI/CIRP Freshman Survey was used in the fall of 2018 for the first cohort and 2019 for the second cohort. The survey indicated an upward shift in students’ perception of science and in making collaborative effort towards positive change. Preliminary data on the Science Motivation Questionnaire showed that the SSELP scholars began their university studies with lower averages than their non-SSELP STEM peers in almost every area of science motivation. After over three years of implementation of the NSF-funded STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems program, the recruitment effort has grown significantly in STEM fields in the university. Within the two cohorts, the most common majors were environmental science and engineering. While 100% of Cohorts 1 and 2 students were retained into the Fall semester of the second year, two students from Cohort 1 left the program between the third and fourth semesters of their studies. While one student from Cohort 2 had a leave of absence, they have returned to continue their studies. The support system formed among the SSELP scholars and between the scholars and faculty has benefited the students in both their academic achievement as well as their personal growth. 

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3. Unpacking Diversity: A Grassroots Initiative and its Institutional Evolution

   https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2024.128  

   Sanchez-Rios, Alejandra; Truong, Thi; Wong-Ala, Jennifer; McCracken, Melissa; Treviño-Peña, Melva (January 2023, Oceanography)

   Here we describe the evolution of a grassroots, graduate student-led initiative, Unpacking Diversity, designed to address the experiences of marginalized BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) scholars in an atmospheric, Earth, and ocean sciences college. Our main activity involved an annual seminar series delivered in partnership with social scientists and humanities scholars to meet the cultural needs of our college. Through this initiative, we held conversations regarding social justice in academia and offered resources to address these issues within the college. Despite high attendance and community-driven efforts to foster inclusivity, a lack of institutional support weakened Unpacking Diversity’s longevity, and organizing efforts became unsustainable for graduate students, primarily women of color. After four years, we decided to retire the initiative. We discuss the factors that contributed to the initiative's success, the obstacles that hindered substantial institutional change, and how this experience helped us create a resilient network of peers 

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4. Educating Engineering Students Innovatively: A Model for Improving Retention and Academic Performance of Black Upper-Level Students

   Caldwell, Charmane; Perry, Reginald (June 2023, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Educating Engineering Students Innovatively (EESI, pronounced "easy") is a student support program for sophomores to seniors enrolled in an engineering major offered at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The program is designed to: (1) foster a sense of community, (2) improve students’ engineering skill sets, and (3) provide each student with their direct path of interest from college to the STEM workforce. Universities spend much effort to provide student support programs for first-year students, such as summer bridge programs. However, sometimes upper-level students are not offered the same level of support and can fall off the STEM pathway. Introducing experiential learning experiences centered on the safe space (or community) of students provides a model to address underrepresentation in the STEM workforce and graduate school. This case study of an experiential learning program will provide an option for universities to consider underrepresented minority upperclassmen retention methods. We will present data for students enrolled in an engineering major between 2018-2021, considering students' gender, first-generation, and financial status. This paper will report the results of four (4) different cohorts of EESI Scholars who completed at least one semester in the student support program. We compare the retention rates, persistence, and academic performance of EESI Scholars compared with students that did not participate in the student support program as one measure of the program's success. Then we provide the best practices of the experiential learning program that led to students' persistence at ***** University. This paper could assist other colleges that would like to ensure Black students, who have been historically underrepresented in STEM, persistence in their engineering programs. 

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5. NSF S-STEM EPIC Scholarship Program

   Atwood, Sara A; DeGoede, Kurt (January 2020, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Results will be presented from a 5-year NSF S-STEM scholarship program for academically talented women in engineering with financial need. Elizabethtown College’s Engineering Practices with Impact Cohort (EPIC) Scholarship program was launched with an NSF S-STEM grant awarded in 2013. The program developed a pathway for academically talented and financially needy women interested in engineering to successfully enter the STEM workforce. The program targeted three critical stages: 1) recruiting talented women into the ABET-accredited engineering program and forming a cohort of scholars,  2) leveraging and expanding existing high impact practices (including an established matriculation program, living-learning community, collaborative learning model, focused mentoring, and undergraduate research) to support women scholars during their college experience, and 3) mentoring scholars as they transitioned to the STEM workforce or graduate programs. The goals of the scholarship program were to increase the number and percent of women entering engineering at our institution and to increase the graduation/employment rate of EPIC scholars beyond that of current engineering students and beyond that of national levels for women engineers.   At the end of this grant, we have roughly doubled the number of women (22.7%) and underrepresented minority students (14%) in the engineering program. This is comparable to the 2016 national average of 20.9% women and 20.6% underrepresented minority bachelor's graduates in engineering. We have also remained at a consistently high level of enrollment and retention of low-income (18.6% Pell-eligible) and first-generation college students (61%). 83% of the scholars have been retained in the engineering program or have graduated with an engineering degree, which is above the institutional and national average. The remaining scholars transferred to another major but have been retained at the institution. All of the scholars participated in a living-learning community, tutoring, focused mentoring, and a women engineers club. Almost all participated in a pre-matriculation program. 17% of the scholars additionally had an undergraduate research experience and 28% studied abroad. 100% of the scholars had engineering workforce jobs or graduate school acceptances at the time of graduation. This program successfully increased the population of underrepresented minority, low-income, and first-generation women entering the engineering workforce.  

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